Joe's Placehttps://joesplace36.wordpress.com
Hands down, the coolest place on the internetMon, 16 Oct 2017 22:04:31 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngJoe's Placehttps://joesplace36.wordpress.com
My new hobby: Photographyhttps://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/my-new-hobby-photography/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/my-new-hobby-photography/#commentsMon, 16 Aug 2010 11:14:49 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=584]]>In case the title didn’t tip you off, I’m trying to get into photography. I’ve always been interested in taking pictures, but I just recently decided to get serious about learning how to go beyond just pointing and shooting. So, armed with my fancy Canon Rebel dSLR camera (it looks like this, if you care), I’ve begun my journey into the world of photography. And I thought, hey, wouldn’t it be great if I could share my pictures with all my adoring fans? And then I thought, hey, wouldn’t it be great if I had adoring fans?

But I digress. Anyway, I thought I’d post some of my pictures on here so you guys can critique them, give me some pointers, or, preferably, just tell me how awesome I am and then send me money. I’ve set up an account on Flickr, a website for sharing pictures. Here’s a link to my page… feel free to take a look, or add me as a friend and maybe we can share pictures and stuff.

So, without further ado, here’s my first batch of pictures. They were taken yesterday, in my backyard. The flowers are courtesy of my wonderful girlfriend Stephanie, who I put in charge of beautifying my patio. I think she’s doing a killer job of it, as you’ll see. I used an aperture around f/5.6 with a pretty slow shutter speed for most of these. They were all done on manual mode, using manual focus. I’m trying to practice without using all the handy automatic modes. If you know your photography stuff and want to see the specifics of what settings I used, check out the pictures on Flickr (you can click on each of the pictures to go right to their Flickr page). It’s got all the EXIF info listed with each picture (hit the Action button above the pic and click “View Exif Info” in the dropdown menu). As you’ll see, I even tried my hand at some fancy editing techniques on one of the pictures.

I think this one is kinda cool. I used Photoshop to get the partial black and white effect. I think it emphasizes the colors of the flower... or something like that.

So there you go… my first attempt at serious photography. What do you think? I’m open to all sorts of feedback, criticism, etc… and if there’s anything you’d like to see me take some pictures of, shoot me a request and I’ll try my hand at it.

It’s 3am, and you’re still awake. You’re lying in your bed, staring at the ceiling, when out of the darkness of your room, you hear a thud. Your heart jumps into your throat – you try to explain it away, but at this time of night, rational explanations are hard to come by. You look around, trying to find the source of the noise, but you can’t see a thing. You hear something else – could that be footsteps? Maybe it’s your terrified mind playing tricks on you, but that sure did sound like footsteps. Out of the corner of your eye, you think you catch a glimpse of movement, but when you turn to look, there’s nothing there. You’ve got chills running down your spine, and you can’t help but feel like something’s watching you in your bed.

This sort of thing has probably happened to everybody. Usually it can be explained away as your mind playing tricks on you, but some people have some pretty convincing evidence that there may actually be something lurking in the darkness. Disembodied footsteps, distant voices heard in an empty house, maybe even a full-body apparition. Some folks are terrified of these unexplained phenomena, and others spend their lives searching for answers. So is there anything to all these claims of paranormal activity?

Pictures and video can be faked. People can be counted on to exaggerate or lie, or let their imaginations get the better of them. I understand that. But it’s tough to ignore some of the evidence out there. Is every supposed ghostly encounter true? Of course not. The thing is, there are things in this world that we just don’t understand. That’s just a given. Whether or not the spirits of dead people are still walking the earth, I can’t say for sure, but a whole lot of people have experienced something. There’s really no doubt in my mind that there’s something going on out there that science can’t explain yet.

The key word here is “yet.” See, people are very quick to assign the label of “supernatural,” and I have a problem with that. Supernatural is defined as “Of or relating to existence outside the natural world.” How can something exist outside the natural world? Just because something is unexplained doesn’t mean it’s not natural. Everything that exists in the universe is “natural,” by definition. The only exception that I can think of would be God, if you subscribe to the whole intelligent design thing (which I do, but that’s a topic for another day). It would stand to reason that God would exist outside the natural world, if He created the natural world.

The trend throughout history seems to be that things that are considered supernatural or paranormal usually end up being explained away as completely natural occurrences as people start to understand them better. Look at thunderstorms — the ancient Greeks used to think they were caused by Zeus getting mad and throwing lightning bolts around. Obviously that sounds ridiculous to us, now that we know they’re caused by clouds bumping into each other.

I think ghosts fall into the same category. They don’t fit into our limited understanding of the world, so we put them into the “supernatural” or “paranormal” category. But if you believe that ghosts (or at least the phenomenon that we call ghosts) exist, then you have to accept they’re part of our natural universe. Just because we don’t understand something doesn’t mean that it’s not part of the natural universe. Even with our advanced scientific knowledge, for everything that we know about the universe, there are a million things we don’t know.

Wait... wrong type of ghost.

Heck, just a few hundred years ago, we had no idea that there were billions upon billions of microorganisms floating around, playing an essential role in sustaining our planet, totally invisible to the naked eye. We could easily see their effects — diseases, decomposition, etc — but we had no idea how they worked. Imagine if you had told somebody hundreds of years ago that there were a bunch of tiny, invisible life forms literally all around them. That wouldn’t fit into their understanding of the world, so even if you showed them irrefutable proof that these microorganisms existed, they’d probably file it away as something supernatural. But now that we understand them a little better, we know that microorganisms are a perfectly natural part of the universe. I suspect that one day, it’ll be the same way with ghosts.

And one other thing. We obviously don’t fully understand this whole concept of ghosts, so who’s to say that the way we perceive it is even close to being right? The generally accepted explanation among ghostologists (pretty sure that’s a real thing) is that ghosts are the spirits of dead folks who are still lurking around. Where does that come from? What proof do we have of that? For all we know, that explanation may be as ridiculous as Zeus throwing lighting bolts at people.

But either way, whether it’s the spirits of the deceased or something else entirely, I believe that the phenomenon that we know as ghosts is a real, natural occurrence. I don’t think ghosts are supernatural, or that they are anything to be afraid of (although that’s not to say I wouldn’t soil myself if I came face to face with one in a dark room); I just think they’re part of our world that we don’t understand yet. What do you think?

Take Our Poll]]>https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/you-look-like-youve-seen-a-ghost/feed/1joesplace36http://coool-pics.blogspot.com/2007/11/top-15-most-famous-ghost-pictures-ever.htmlhttp://www.hauntedamericatours.com/battlefields/gettysburg/http://www.trueghosttales.com/ghost-pictures-gag.phpSpaceGhostI’m still here!https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/im-still-here/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/im-still-here/#respondSun, 08 Aug 2010 04:34:48 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=536]]>I know, it’s been a while. I’ve been off traveling the world, having all sorts of adventures and the like. That’s why I haven’t posted in a while. Okay, that was a lie… for some reason I just haven’t been able to motivate myself to write lately. Writer’s block, I guess. I’m not sure what that’s about, but it’s all good, because I’m back now.

So anyway… what was I going to talk about? Oh yeah, Insanity. I’m halfway through with Week 3, and it’s going great. I know what you’re thinking — didn’t I finish Week 2 like a month ago? Well first of all, it was only a week and a half. Quit exaggerating. And yes, I did finish Week 2 a while back, but I missed more days than I was comfortable with on Week 3, so I decided to repeat it.

So anyway, today was Week 3, Day 3. My workout for the day was Plyometric Cardio Circuit, which, in my opinion, may be the easiest of the workouts for the first month. I use the term “easy” lightly, because it’s not easy at all. It’s horrible. It’s just not quite as horrible as Pure Cardio, which is 15 straight minutes of hell without a break, or Cardio Power and Resistance, which is just… well it’s just horrible.

When I say “horrible,” I don’t necessarily mean that I don’t enjoy it. They really are kinda fun, in a horrible, painful, evil way. And the results are worth it. I’m still not exactly seeing the results that I’d like to be seeing, but I’m getting there. I can tell I’m improving, and that’s enough for me right now.

So yeah… that’s about all I’ve got to say about that for right now. Thanks for reading! I’ll try not to go another month and a half in between posts next time

]]>https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/im-still-here/feed/0joesplace36Are we alone in the universe?https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/are-we-alone-in-the-universe/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/are-we-alone-in-the-universe/#commentsTue, 27 Jul 2010 15:53:32 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=509]]>Astronomy has always been an interest of mine (I know, I’m a nerd), and I’ve always wondered what the universe is like outside our solar system. Are we alone here? Is there intelligent life outside our planet?

Well, the unfortunate fact right now is that we just don’t know. Sure, there are plenty of people who have seen UFOs flying around, but there’s really no way to verify that those were really alien spaceships, and not just weather balloons, or experimental military aircraft, or Superman. Until somebody makes contact with some aliens, all anybody can do is speculate.

Lucky for you, I’m good at speculating. The other day I was reading this blog about the Kepler mission, a deep-space observatory that has been operational for six weeks. In those six short weeks, it has already identified 140 planets that scientists suspect are similar to Earth – as in, able to sustain life. They haven’t verified anything yet, but these scientists are predicting that there could be as many as 100 million habitable planets in our galaxy alone.

Okay, let’s talk about size. Our galaxy is enormous. Way, way, WAY bigger than any common frame of reference anybody could possibly come up with. There are around 400 billion stars in our galaxy. It’s estimated to be about 100,000 light years across. To put that in perspective, it would take something traveling at the speed of light one hundred thousand years to go from one side to the other. And light is pretty darn fast… it makes the 93 million mile trip to us from the sun in around 8 minutes. That is insane. I can’t even wrap my mind around how big that is.

But it gets bigger. As immense as our galaxy is, there are about 100 billion of these galaxies in our observable universe. Let’s see, 100 billion galaxies, somewhere around 400 billion stars per galaxy… By astronomers’ best estimates, that comes out to roughly 70 sextillion stars. That’s 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars.

Kinda makes you feel insignificant, doesn’t it? We’re just one tiny little planet revolving around one medium sized star among 70 sextillion other stars in the universe. How can we be so arrogant to think that we’re the only ones living in this unimaginably massive universe? Even forgetting about this new discovery of Earth-like planets, how could we possibly imagine that the trillions upon trillions of light years’ worth of space around us is completely uninhabited?

The bottom line is, I don’t know. I’ve never been outside our solar system (heck, I’ve barely even been outside this state), so I obviously can’t say anything for sure. But from where I’m standing, on this tiny, insignificant rock floating somewhere in a mind-blowingly huge universe, it seems pretty likely that there’s somebody else out there. Maybe they’ve already figured out how to travel these huge distances, or maybe they’re doing exactly the same thing we’re doing – looking up at the sky and wondering if they’re alone. We’ll probably never know, at least not in our lifetimes, but the truth is out there…

Just ask Mulder

Take Our Poll]]>https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/are-we-alone-in-the-universe/feed/6joesplace36alien2xfilesSo I’ve survived two weeks of INSANITY!https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/so-ive-survived-two-weeks-of-insanity/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/so-ive-survived-two-weeks-of-insanity/#commentsTue, 27 Jul 2010 05:37:32 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=503]]>It’s official – I’ve made it through two full weeks of this craziness. It’s not getting any easier, but I can tell that I’m getting better. I took the fitness test yesterday, and although I didn’t take it when I started Insanity like I should have (I know, I know, I just forgot), I compared my results with my results at the 2-week mark last time I did Insanity, and for the most part they were a little better. The fitness test consists of 8 workouts, and you get a minute to do each of them. You get around a minute and a half to rest in between each. The fitness test isn’t quite as tough as one of the regular workouts, but it’s still pretty tough. So without further ado, here are my results after two weeks:

Switch Kicks – 56

For this move, you hold your arms up by your chest, and alternate kicking each leg out 90 degrees from your body. My legs didn’t quite make it up 90 degrees near the end, but I did what I could.

Power Jacks – 48

This move is basically a jumping jack, but when your arms are down, you hop down to a low squat position. Let me tell ya – this one hurts the ol’ quads.

Power Knees – 74

This move is a little weird. You start with your front leg bent, your back leg straight, and your arms up above your head. You bring your back knee up and your hands down until they meet near your stomach. It’s tough to explain, and just as tough to do.

Power Jumps – 34

I hate this move. You start in a squat position, then jump up as high as you can, and as you jump, you lift your knees up and touch them with your hands. As you land, you go back into a squat position, and repeat. I’m sure it’s a great move to build power, but it’s not fun to do.

Globe Jumps – 8

These are kinda fun. You start with your knees bent and your hands touching the floor. You jump up and to the right, then bend your knees and touch the floor again. Then you jump backwards, then left, and then forward, back to your starting point. Those 4 jumps equal 1 rep.

Suicide Jumps – 13

I hate these almost as much as I hate the power jumps. You start from a standing position, you hop down to a push-up position, then you jump back up off the ground. From here, you go back down to a push-up position, and it starts again. At this point in the test, you’re getting pretty tired, so this exercise (which is already hard enough on its own) is pretty darn tough.

Push-Up Jacks – 20

These are sort of a weird combination of a push-up and a jumping jack. You do a regular push-up, but when you’re in the down position, you hop so that your legs are wide. When you go up, you bring your legs back in. It’s a push-up that works your upper and lower body.

Low Plank Oblique – 19

By the time I got to the last exercise, I was just about out of gas. For this, you go into a push-up position, except your forearms are on the floor instead of your palms. Once you’re in this position, you bring one knee at a time up to your chest, working your obliques (hence the name).

]]>https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/so-ive-survived-two-weeks-of-insanity/feed/4joesplace36Just call the game, Blue!https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/just-call-the-game-blue/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/just-call-the-game-blue/#commentsMon, 26 Jul 2010 14:29:01 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=474]]>Lately there has been a lot of talk around Major League Baseball about umpires. Last year a few key blown calls during the postseason had fans up in arms, and last month Jim Joyce made headlines after his blown call cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game. There have been plenty of other bad calls lately that have brought umpires into the spotlight, but that’s not the spotlight I’m here to talk about.

Umpires are imperfect human beings just like the rest of us, and I really think we ought to cut them a break when it comes to missing a call here and there. Don’t get me wrong – I’ll still complain when a bad call hurts the Braves, but when you get right down to it, these guys are forced to make split-second judgment calls on fast-paced plays happening in real time, without the benefit of all the slow-motion instant replay technology that I have access to from my living room. I think I can forgive them if they miss one or two – if it were me out there, I’m sure I’d be doing good to get one or two calls right.

So I’ve got a beef with umpires lately, but it has nothing to do with missing calls. My problem comes when some umpires instigate problems, and try to shift the focus off of the game and onto themselves. If you’re an umpire, your job is to stay out of the spotlight. If an umpire does his job perfectly, at the end of the game nobody will even remember he was there. But it seems like lately, a few umpires have been doing whatever they can to get themselves into the spotlight.

Perfect example: Joe West. This veteran umpire royally ticked off the White Sox last month by ejecting manager Ozzie Guillen and pitcher Mark Buehrle after two questionable balk calls. Evidently Mark and Ozzie weren’t aware that West had just added a new subsection to the MLB rule that defines a balk: “If Joe West wants it to be a balk, it’s a balk.” Joe also made a name for himself a while back after his publicist solicited reporters for an interview about how the slow pace of Yankees-Red Sox games was “pathetic and embarrassing,” and “a disgrace to baseball.” Think about that for a minute. His publicist? What is a MLB umpire doing with a publicist? His job is to be anonymous, to call the game and go home. He has no business addressing the public – if he’s in the spotlight, he’s done something wrong. But this guy is out there with a PR rep, trying his best to stay in the spotlight. That, my friends, is pathetic and embarrassing.

But this lack of professionalism has been a big problem lately, and it’s not just Joe West. Last month during a game in Kansas City, home plate umpire Mike Eastabrook tried to bait Royals’ catcher Jason Kendall into a confrontation. Pitcher Zack Greinke threw a pitch that looked to be down the center of the plate, but he didn’t get the strike call. Kendall apparently said something to the umpire, but he never turned around or tried to show him up in any way. According to the article, those little exchanges between catchers and umpires happen all the time, but neither party moves from their spots, so no one else knows about it, and life goes on. But this umpire couldn’t let it go. He called time out so he could go start an argument with Kendall, who was already back in his crouch and ready for the next pitch. The Royals’ manager, clearly furious (and with good reason), came out to protect his player, and was thrown out within seconds.

Bill Hohn and Joe West are just a few of several umpires who are quickly gaining reputations for having a very, very short fuse. Like I said before, I understand that umpires are only human, and I understand that some of them may have quick tempers. But when you’re a professional umpire at the major league level, you’ve got to put your temper aside and just call the game. You’re gonna make mistakes, players are gonna get upset, and that’s just part of the game. You’ve got to have a thick skin and let it go. Now, I’m not trying to say that the players and managers being ejected have no fault in the issue. When they get up in the umpire’s face and start screaming at him because they didn’t agree with a call, yes, they should be thrown out. But lately there have been so many cases of umpires forgetting all about their job of calm arbiter, and being even more belligerent and combative than the players and managers they’re arguing with.

I don’t mean to imply for a second that all umpires are like this. The vast majority of major league umpires are, at least from a fan’s perspective, very professional, and excellent at their job. It just seems like something should be done about these few umpires who feel the need to show their insecurity and act like the game revolves around them, and the fans pay to come and watch them umpire (as Ozzie Guillen said about Joe West). Missing calls is a part of the game, but insecure, belligerent, showboating umpires should not be. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

]]>https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/just-call-the-game-blue/feed/5joesplace36Joe West and Ozzie Guillen argue a supposed balk callRoy Oswalt reacts to being tossed by butthurt umpire Bill HohnUmp Bob Davidson and Rays' skipper Joe Maddon have it outAh, the joys of living alonehttps://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/ah-the-joys-of-living-alone/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/ah-the-joys-of-living-alone/#commentsFri, 23 Jul 2010 15:06:24 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=452]]>The other day, I was lying in bed when I decided that I had to go to the bathroom. I reluctantly got up and started walking that direction, but before I even made it out my bedroom door and into to the hallway, I realized that without thinking about it, I had already taken my pants off. You probably could have gone without hearing that little anecdote, but it really got me thinking: a lot has changed in the few months that I’ve been living alone.

I’m so conditioned to living alone that I remove articles of my clothing while walking through the apartment without so much as a second thought – half the time without even consciously realizing that I’m doing it (you’ll think twice about barging in unannounced now, eh Maintenance Guy?). Of all the changes I’ve had to make since moving in here, I consider that one a change for the better (you may disagree with me here), but it started me thinking about all the positive and negative changes I’ve made since moving out on my own.

Pros

– Privacy

You just can’t beat the privacy of living alone. I have the freedom to wander around the apartment in varying states of undress, and there’s no one around to get upset about it. There is no way I can explain to you how cool this is if you’ve never experienced it, but suffice it to say it is incredible. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some kind of a nudist, but when it’s 400 degrees outside like it’s been the past few weeks, it’s kind of nice to be able to lounge around in your underwear all day. Trust me when I say that if you have roommates or live with your parents, this is just weird.

– Freedom

There’s nothing like the freedom of living alone. I’m the king of my castle, and while I’m here, there’s nobody around to tell me what to do. For example, I don’t have to put the toilet seat down after I use the bathroom if I don’t want to. If I wanted to, I could literally take a sledgehammer and bust a hole in the wall of my apartment, and no one could stop me. I might lose my security deposit, and my neighbor might not like it, and I might get kicked out of the apartment and have to pay for the damages… but I could still do it.

– Solitude

I work overnight, so this is a big one for me. I come home from work at 7 in the morning, which meant that when I was living with my parents, I was trying to go to sleep while everybody else was getting up and getting ready to go to work. I love my family, but it’s not easy to sleep through three people trying to get ready to go at the same time, especially when two of them are using a bathroom that shares a wall with my bedroom. But now that I’m living on my own, I can come home and go right to sleep without having to worry about any of that. And I have a two-story apartment, so I don’t even have to worry about banging on the ceiling with a broomstick when my upstairs neighbor starts making noise, because I don’t have an upstairs neighbor.

Cons

– Money

When I lived with my parents, I was living the good life. I was rolling in the cash, and I could go out and buy pretty much whatever I wanted. Then when I moved out, people started expecting me to pay for things like “rent,” “utilities,” and “insurance.” Can you believe that? The nerve. So all of a sudden, I went from having more money than I knew what to do with, to having no money at all. I had to look for all sorts of ways to cut back. I even had to stop using cash as toilet paper – that wasn’t an easy choice to make. It took me a few months, but I’m starting to get everything in order again, so I don’t have to worry quite so much about money.

– Responsibilities

When I first moved out of my parents’ house, I was so excited: never again would I be forced to do chores! No more cleaning up, doing dishes, or taking out the trash. Nobody could tell me what to do anymore! So I tried that for a while. I didn’t clean, I didn’t do the dishes, I didn’t take out the trash… I was living the dream. That worked pretty well for a while, but I slowly started to realize the error of my ways after a militant group of cockroaches forcibly took control of the kitchen. The last straw was when I found my girlfriend buried underneath the massive heap of trash that had piled up on the living room floor. She was not amused.

So I decided I would actually have to take some responsibility around my new place. Now, I recognize that since I live alone in an apartment, I don’t have nearly as many responsibilities as someone who owns a house, or has a family. But I still have a lot more than I had when I was living with my parents. The few chores that I was required to do at my parents’ house turned out to be nothing compared to the chores I have to do to keep those guerrilla cockroaches at bay.

– Solitude

Wait a minute – wasn’t this on the list of Pros? Yes, but this one goes both ways. Solitude is great when you’re trying to sleep, or if you just need a little time to yourself. But there are times when I just don’t particularly care to be alone. I have a girlfriend who comes over a lot, but she doesn’t live here, so I’ve got plenty of time here by myself. Usually this is fine, but every now and then it does get lonely. I guess it’s just a trade off – when I lived with my parents, I was never alone. I have a very good relationship with my parents (not really, but I have to say that, because they’re probably reading this), so I really didn’t mind it. There were times when I wished they would leave me alone, but for the most part, I didn’t mind the company.

Living alone has been a big transition for me, but I’m enjoying it. It’s been stressful at times, but overall, it’s been an awesome adventure that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I don’t think there’s any way I could go back to living with my parents now – my habit of randomly undressing in the living room would be way too weird.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading a few of my observations from my first few months on this adventure. Feel free to share any pros or cons of living alone that I may have missed.

]]>https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/ah-the-joys-of-living-alone/feed/9joesplace36INSANITY: Day 8 or so…https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/insanity-day-8-or-so/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/insanity-day-8-or-so/#commentsThu, 22 Jul 2010 05:06:24 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=442]]>I’m gonna be perfectly honest here – I’m not sure what day I’m on. I think this is technically the first day of week 2, but I”m not exactly following the schedule to the letter. I know I’ve been slacking on the updates, but I’ve done a few workouts since the last time I posted an update. Updating my blog after every workout seems to be getting a little excessive, so I think I’m gonna back it off to every few days.

So about today’s workout. I did Plyometric Cardio Circuit, which is actually kind of fun. After the warm-up and stretch, it starts with Suicide Drills, which basically involves running a few steps in one direction, bending down and touching the floor, then running back the other direction and doing it again. After that, it’s Power Squats, which involve going down to a squat position, then jumping back up to a standing position. Those are tough on the ol’ thighs. After the Power Squats, it’s Mountain Climbers. For these, you alternate reaching your hands up while lifting your knees at the same time, almost like you’re climbing a mountain (hence the name). After you get to the top of the mountain, you get to ski down to the bottom, with the aptly named Ski Downs. These have you jump from side to side while moving your arms back behind you like you’re using ski poles. You do those 4 exercises, get a much-needed 30 second break, then repeat the whole set two more times.

After that, you start the second set. This starts with Basketball Drills, where you bend down at the knees and mime picking up a basketball and making a jump shot. Next are Level 1 Drills, which I hate. You start from a standing position, go down to a push-up position, do 4 push-ups, followed by 8 floor sprints, then you stand up and start the whole thing over. If I didn’t already mention it, I HATE these. After those horrible drills, you go into Ski Abs. You start in a push-up position, then you bend your knees and jump your legs from side to side (if that makes any sense at all). After that are In-And-Outs, which start from the same push-up position, then have you jump your legs right up underneath your body, like you’re about to stand up. This whole set is awful… but in a good way. You do three sets of those four workouts with a water break in between each. At the end of the third set, you go straight into a few upper body exercises, like jabs, uppercuts, that sort of thing. After being in the push-up position for so long, those arm workouts are tough.

Including the 10 minutes of hell that they call a warm-up, the stretch, the actual workout, and the cool down stretch, it’s about 40 minutes. I had Insanity going on the TV with the Braves game on the Picture in Picture. The game went into extra innings, and having something exciting to watch made my workout go by pretty fast. Sadly, the Braves lost 6-4 to the Padres in 12 innings, but it was a good game. It was a great workout, too. I haven’t really been keeping up with my weight or my measurements, but I’m starting to see a difference. It looks like I’m slimming down a bit, and I’m starting to see a little muscle definition in my arms. Rock on.

]]>https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/insanity-day-8-or-so/feed/5joesplace36INSANITY: Day 5https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/insanity-day-5/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/insanity-day-5/#commentsMon, 19 Jul 2010 13:09:49 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=426]]>Yesterday was Day 5 of Insanity, and let me tell you… this one was tough. I found the DVD I had been missing, called Cardio Power and Resistance, and part of me is a little upset that I found it.

From the very beginning, I could tell this workout was gonna be bad. The warm-up begins like normal, with 30 seconds of jogging in place, but after that, rather than 30 seconds of jumping jacks like in the other workouts, this one goes into power jacks, which are essentially jumping jacks, but you go into a low squat position every time your arms are down. Later on in the warm-up, where the other workouts have you doing an exercise called mummy kicks (you hold your arms out parallel to the floor and alternate one hand above the other, while alternating kicking forward with your left and right feet… yeah, it’s tough to explain), this one has vertical jumps, which are exactly what they sound like: you bend at the knees and jump as high as you can, then repeat for 30 seconds. It’s tougher than it sounds.

Anyway, the point is this workout kicked my butt. I know I said that the other ones kicked my butt, but that was before I did Cardio Power & Resistance. I mean it this time – this one REALLY kicked my butt. It’s all about power, and exercises that are designed to build power are tough. Very tough. A lot of them involved jumping from a squat position, and I don’t know if you’ve ever tried this, but it hurts… a lot. It’s a good hurt, the type that lets you know how hard you’re working, but it still hurts.

There was also a lot of upper body work involved, especially variations of push-ups. There’s the moving push-up (with each rep, you use your arms to sort of crawl to the left, then back to the right), the V push-up (your butt is way up in the air so your body is shaped like a V, and you do the push-ups with your fingers facing each other to work your shoulders), and the ball push-up (you curl into a weird shaped ball and do push-ups to work your triceps). It’s more upper body than I’ve gotten used to doing with Insanity, but it still feels good. Well, it feels good now… at the time, I wanted to die a little bit.

So I managed to survive this workout, but barely. I did it last night around 9, but my legs and arms still feel a little weak. But it’s okay, I don’t mind it. It just shows me how hard I worked last night. I may be sore, but I’m looking forward to today’s workout – after this, I get an off day!

]]>https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/insanity-day-5/feed/3joesplace36How about a little cheese with that whine?https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/how-about-a-little-cheese-with-that-whine/
https://joesplace36.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/how-about-a-little-cheese-with-that-whine/#commentsSun, 18 Jul 2010 13:39:58 +0000http://joesplace36.wordpress.com/?p=397]]>If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s people who complain all the time. You know who I’m talking about: those folks who never have anything positive to say about anything, but feel the need to chime in at any given time about how terrible their lives are. Odds are you know at least a few of these people. You might even be one, for all I know. But every time I hear one of these people talk, this is all I see:

WAAAAHHHH!

Now, don’t get me wrong – everybody needs to vent a little sometimes. I’m not comparing everyone who ever complains about anything to a whiny baby. I’m talking about people who do nothing but complain, all the time. Take Facebook, for instance. I’m sure you’ve got people on your list who you can count on to be whining about something every time they post a status update. I’m sorry, but the fact is, no one wants to read that! It’s one thing to post the occasional gripe about something that’s bothering you, but when every single update has to do with what a terrible time you have going through life, people stop caring. Maybe I’m just insensitive, but I have de-friended people who did nothing but post whiny Facebook statuses, because I just flat-out got sick of listening to them.

After a certain point, I have absolutely no sympathy. I know that sounds mean, but here’s why. As Americans, we have SO MUCH to be thankful for. We live in one of the richest countries on the planet, and even the poorest people here have it better than most people in other parts of the world. We have clean running water, we have access to excellent medical care, we have effective police and fire protection, and we live in a country where we have the freedom to say, think, believe, and do whatever we want to do. There are millions of people in the world who can’t say that. So many people are living in poverty, literally starving to death, or living under oppressive, tyrannical governments where they have no rights whatsoever. So yeah, we’ve got it pretty darn good.

Look, I don’t claim to know anyone else’s life, and I know there are plenty of people around here who have it a lot tougher than I do. I’m not trying to downplay anybody’s hardships. Everybody has problems, and everybody needs a shoulder to cry on from time to time. But in general, what’s important is how you handle your problems. You can either whine and complain all day about how tough your life is, or you can grow a pair, suck it up, and deal with it! I know plenty of people whose lives really do suck, and they don’t sit around moping and whining all day.

You’re not solving anything by dwelling on your problems, so why not focus on what you’ve got going for you and use that to fix your problems? Quit complaining about how the glass is half empty, and just drink the water already! And if your problem is not something that you can fix, then you might as well just be a man (or a woman) and deal with it, because there’s no sense in complaining about it, now is there? Life is way too short to let ourselves be consumed by all the problems that we have, so deal with your problems and enjoy life. I think we could all benefit from focusing a little less on what’s going wrong in our lives, and a little more on what’s going right. Seriously, count your blessings!

So to all you habitual whiners out there, next time you’re thinking about reminding everybody on Facebook why they should feel sorry for you, why not post about something good in your life instead? Trust me – it will make you happier, and will probably make people less likely to block you. Just sayin’.

Anyway, thanks for letting me take a few minutes to whine about whiners. I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you did not, I suggest you go on Facebook and complain about it.